WEDNESDAY Reflections
"My
God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" These famous words from the cross
of Jesus first find themselves here in chapter 22 of Psalms. They have been the
cry of many a person throughout time. Times when all hope seemed lost and death
seemed inevitable. It feels like a cry of hopelessness, yet we never cry out to
those we know cannot help us. This is a cry of desperation. It is the cry of
humanity.
If
we really look at the world in all its ugliness then we can easily wonder why
God has left us in this mess. It is why some have walked away from God, yet
without a God, there is no ugliness, no evil, no wrong, no right, just death.
For us to see ugliness there must be a God and we are left either to cry out to
him, deny him, or blame him. Jesus, in the midst of his greatest suffering,
cried out to him. What he had known previous to this point was that this was
his destiny and his greatest victory. At this point on the cross, he felt alone
and cried out to the only one who could make everything right and He did. God
didn't at that moment, but a short time later when Jesus gave up his life, the
path to complete victory opened. Jesus won
This chapter continues recounting God's
past faithfulness, the psalmist’s current situation, and the promise of praise.
At the end, it reaffirms the Psalmist’s faith in God.
Perhaps
this is a path to recovering faith:
1.
Cry out
2.
Remember God's character
3.
Recount your problems
4.
offer praise
5.
faith is restored.
I
won’t promise this will work every time, but I believe it can help.
Psalm 22
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
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